Once Friends But Now More
by Mulan Ayano
Summary: ONESHOT! Xing Cai and Liu Chan are gonna get married but something's holding her back. Will she marry Liu Chan or will she be with her best friend? CaiPing Slight CaiChan


_A/N: Hey y'all! How are you? I know, dumb question, but just excited! I hope there won't be any complaints or anything. Well, this is all for the Xing Cai and Guan Ping fans out there, enjoy!!:) _

* * *

Outdoors, spotlighting from the moon were the lord's heir, Liu Chan, and his future wife, Xing Cai, having their '_romantic_' evening before they become newly weds tomorrow. Throughout the dinner they were having, Cai hadn't spoken much, somehow she's been feeling empty from the previous week he'd asked her to marry him. Everyone else seem overwhelmed about it, though. After sipping the last of the wine, he placed the cup on the table before looking at the ebony haired girl woman, cupping her delicate hand, caressing it slighting, and looking into her brown eyes, her eyes met his, and their faces were mere inches from each others.

"I'm so glad that we're getting married tomorrow," Liu Chan stated, looking at her face, she looked at him blankly.

"Yeah, sure will be," she sighed and looked away for a second; she was in deep thought, til he cupped up her chin, came quite quickly and kiss on her lips with one movement, and let go with one wet smooch. She wiped the saliva from her lips and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Is there something wrong, my love," Liu Chan asked in concern, she shook her head rapidly before saying,

"No, nothing's wrong, just had a long night that's all" .

"You haven't said a word all night, so therefore something's bothering you"

She didn't know what to say, he's not the type of person that she could open up to, if he was then she would of known about what she was going to say then and there. She closed her eyes to think, trying to find her words or excuse. Finally opening up her eyes, she took a deep breathe and nervously said,

"I'm just nervous about the wedding, no 'biggie'." as her head hung down facing the table, but jerked when she heard Liu Chan's creepy voice chuckling like a skipping record.

"That's all? Everyone gets nervous before the wedding, you'll feel more safe once you walk down the aisle with the son of our lord," she just stayed silent in her thoughts again. '_I don't know what's plaguing my mind, eversince he asked me to marry him, I been feeling a little off lately, I haven't seen Ping the following week. I just probably need someone's shoulder to lie on so I can stop feeling nervous about the wedding'. _She was pulled out of her thoughts as a servant hurridely approached Liu Chan.

"Master Liu Chan, your feast is about to begin in thirty minutes, and our people is waiting for your presence," she bowed.

"Thanks, my servant," Liu Chan bowed as well before the servant walked away.

"Wait til the love feast in the great hall for your feast"

"I'll catch up, I just need some fresh air to cool off that's all, I'll make it in time," Liu Chan nodded, finishing the last of his dim sum, he felt a pair of lips pressed against his own, in return, at least to let him know that she didn't forget about her _love _or _loyalty _for him. It only last for a couple of seconds before she gave him a small 'smile' before walking off, he watched her fading from the distance then walked to the hall smiling to himself.

* * *

Guan Ping was sitting on looking at the pond, seeing his own sadly reflection, he threw a smooth pebble in the water, watched it splat a little with a 'thung'. _Why am I stressed all of a sudden? What is going on with me? It's probaly because of the sparring that lasted an hour with Zhang Fei, speaking of Zhang Fei, I haven't seen Xing Cai since last week, because she's been with Chan. For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this wedding, I feel like Xing Cai's gonna forget about me. I think she should be with someone better, but then again, it'll make me a little jealous, is it because I love her? _When he says her name in his head, his heart skips a beat. _Oh God! When I say her name or even think about it, I suddenly have this funny feeling. It could be love...no, it can't possibly be that simple fact. Am I crazy, she's my best friend. These feelings I keep recieving are forbidden. Maybe it's because I worry about her too much because she's getting married to Liu Chan,and he is vulnerable and weak to fight. There's __**nothing**__ to worry about, she will be the future queen of Shu after all, they're just alerts that's coming to me, that's all. I just need to see her one more time before we won't be seeing each other very long. _He felt a little relieved from the thought, but still stress, with a empty feeling, not exactly empty; from the feelings he's been getting, but he has been empty; from not seeing Cai much as he used to. He laid back on the grass abit, gazing at the stars. 

"Mmmmnnn...that looks nice, I wonder what she's doing," Ping saids to himself quietly. The pond was nothing but peace, all he heard was himself breathing softly, the water flowing, his heart beating, the crickets, and the last of the flower pedals flowing down. One gently fell on his nose, he picked it up, not trying to bend the perfectly fit peice, and sniff the well-scented fragrance. He just laid there enjoying the tranquility, til he heard footsteps coming towards him, and a voice sounded so recognizing to him as this person said, "Gu-Guan Ping," it sounded so questionly, but as he heard it, he jerked up, and looked at the young woman.

"Xing Cai, I haven't seen you in a while," he swallowed his words as his heart skipped a beat from the sight of the woman or from her startling him.

"Guan Ping...," she hugged him really tightly, wrapping her small arms around his waist, face buried in his muscular chest, he froze from her warmth, but had no choice but wrap his own arms around her. Before getting caught up in the moment, he felt himself being loose from her grasp.

"Hey, where have you been the past week," she asks. He scratched his head nervously before saying, "Umm, well, I was to myself, following the days, you know. Well, I was just sparring with father and Fei most of the time." With that she said nothing, there was nothing else to reply to but,

"Well, I wanted to give you space before you and Chan become husband and wife, so I didn't want to get in the way."

_'No, you're not the one getting in my way,' _she thought again, with a mixture of a confused and serious expression on her face.

"Cai...," she turned her attention to Ping before he continued,

"Is there something troubling you," he asked worriedly. She didn't answer because she was trying to think of the right words to say, so he could solve her problem. Just about every problem she had, she get through them from Ping's advices and support.

"No," she denied it. _Cai, you don't have me fooled, something's wrong everytime I sense it, and besides, I can see the look on your face._

"Well," he snapped his head as she broke the silence and she continued by saying,

"Liu Chan is crowding me and he didn't even give me the time to have space to myself," she said irritated.

"Well it's probably hard for him to resist being seperated from a pretty woman like you," with that, she blush and smiled at him.

"Thank you, so what else were you doing the since I haven't seen you," she asked. He scratched his head to think and he said, "Well, father was angry at me for eating his dim sum." They were talking for a long time.

* * *

Meanwhile, Liu Chan was at the great hall, becoming impacient at Xing Cai's tardiness. _Where are you Xing Cai, people are waiting? I'm getting pretty worried about her. _He walked over to the servant and asked, 

"My servant, have Guan Ping showed up," the servant bowed.

"Sorry, Master, I haven't seen him either." _'I bet they're together,_ _no it's just a coincidence, if she doesn't come in five minutes, I'll have to replace her with someone else for the night.'_

"Ping, I'll never forget this moment. Thank you," she said facing him, looking in each other's eyes.

"What are friends for," he chuckled as she giggled. He would help her any day, anytime, any place, hell, anywhere. He don't care what he's doing, he don't care if he's taking a shit and he runs out of the bathroom with the tissue hangingoff his pants and smelly shitty, he'll still help her out no matter what as so she'll do the same for him. The chuckling stopped and it was nothing but silence, they looked at eachother, with something unexplainable in their eyes, more with a glint. The communication in their eyes made them get closer, closing the gap, and she gave him a soft kiss on the lips, Ping was suprised; his eyes were wide, but was closed and grasped her hips. As they got some feeling inside deep inside themselves gotten funnier, Ping let out a small sound before Cai broke the kiss with a crimson shade on both sides of her cheeks, never expected it to last long.

"What was that for," Guan Ping said in shock.

"It was a...friendly kiss."

"More of a thank you, perhaps"

"Yeah. Guan Ping, thanks a lot," before walking inside the corridor she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"G'night," he saids,he watched her walked inside. _Did that just happend? Is it me or did that kiss just got out of hand. I suddenly have this feeling everytime we're around one another. I'll just stay out here for a little while._ Just thinking about that incident, he just walked away, with a raged blush on his face.

Xing Cai walked in the corridor, happier than ever. All she needed was a friend to kick it with, but was growing more feelings for him, didn't know what type, but didn't care. She was happier from the kiss, it was compassionate, meaningful, promising and friendly. Was it friendly or was it carried away, who knows? She leaned against her door, let out a relieved sigh, smiling, before saying

"I feel alot better everytime I'm with him." Before she could open the door, she saw the light on in between the cracks. _I don't remember keeping the light on._ She opened her door quickly and she saw Liu Chan sitting on her bed.

"Oh, Liu Chan, what are you doing here," she saids nervously.

"Where were you Xing Cai? You missed the feast," he saids with a worried look on his face before standing and walking up to her.

"Oh, I was just wandering around getting my air by the pond." Liu Chan let out a inwardly gasp before thinking, _'So it is true'._

"This late, it was suppose to be the most important days of our lives, and you weren't there," he cried.

"Well, I'm sorry," she was a bit dissapointed for not showing up. He stepped closer giving her a look of hurt, jealousy, and rage, and she whimpered at the affect he gave her and she felt Liu Chan's hard grasp of her wrist and he roughly tugged it making it red.

"Liu Chan, what are you doing," she screamed,trying pulling away but he was too strong in hold of her wrist. He glared at her kind of shaking her abit.

"YOU WERE WITH PING WEREN'T YOU," Liu Chan growled still grabbing her wrist making her groan from the pressure he's giving her.

_This is what my conscience warned me. He's...he's...acting different!_

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU," she questioned him aloud; he finally paused not changing his rotten expression.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB, YOU WERE WITH PING JUST AS I PREDICTED AND WHAT GOTTEN INTO YOU? HUH," he continued to shake her roughly,

"LORD LIU CHAN, YOU'RE HURTING ME," she cried, instead of responding considerately to the whining Cai,

"THE ONLY PERSON THAT'S HURT IS ME! YOU HAVE A LOT OF NERVE NOT THINKING ABOUT MY NEEDS," his frustrations released with such harsh words. While struggling to break free, she felt herself being 'accidentally' pushed back on the ground; she was hurt pretty badly, physically and emotionally.

Chan's face mellowed when he saw Cai hurt badly, he froze with fear and regret. _What...what have I done?!! _

"Cai I didn't mean…to hurt you," he didn't know what to say, he was jealous of Xing Cai's friendship or relationship with Guan Ping, so he didn't know what else to do but let out his anger, but he made it worst by expressing it to the wrong person, the woman that he was crazy about since the young ages of his life. His mind goes blank every second he sees them together. He carefully stepped close to her, offering her a hand to borrow.

"Cai……let me—"

She crawled backwards; scared of what he was to do next, she never expected him to treat her like trash; not even for the future for them, it probably won't be a present life for the turmoil couple.

"NO GET AWAY FROM ME," she exclaimed.

"Cai, I'm sorry," he tried to explain himself but,

"NO, I'M OUT OF HERE," she quickly stormed out of the room; trying to get away from that greedy manipulative man. Chan walked towards the door to see where she was going, there was no site of her (ran from the ugly! J/K).

He called after her, so he could explain his intentions, but she didn't come back. She was running as fast as she could to get away from him, she was trying to find a place to spot Guan Ping. _Where can I go, I would go to Daddy, but if I did it'll probably escalate to another situation and cause bad division with his relationship with Lui Bei._ She was running to wherever her horse-paddling feet were taking her.

* * *


End file.
